This prisoner was locally born, designated “native” meaning he was not a felon convicted before 1853 when transportation to Tasmania ceased. He was not in prison in 1874. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on discharge from the Hobart Gaol in August 1873 . The transcription “Taken at Port Arthur 1874” was applied universally across the versos of dozens of these 1870s mugshots in the early 1900s for exhibition and sale to tourists in the collection of convictarian John Watt Beattie at his “Port Arthur Museum” located in Hobart. His collection was donated to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston in 1930 from where copies such as the two below were distributed to other state and national collections.

William Harrison, alias Taylor, pleaded guilty to uttering a forged cheque at Alveston, near Deloraine, with intent to defraud. He was remanded for sentence….
William Harrison, convicted on his own confession of uttering a forged cheque, four years’ imprisonment.

William Harrison as Taylor, was tried at the Recorder’s Court Launceston and charged on 26 May 1870 with uttering a forged cheque on his own confession. He was sentenced to four years. He may have served time at the Port Arthur prison although his name was not listed among the 109 prisoners on short term who were tabled in Parliament to be returned to the Hobart Gaol by July 1873. William Harrison was discharged from Hobart and photographed by Thomas J. Nevin on 27 August 1873.

On the 8th January 1875, a warrant was issued for William Harrison’s arrest for failure to join the whaling vessel Marie Laurie. The name “Taylor” was included in the warrant, which may have been an alias, as was the name “Forster” which may have been Charles Brown’s alias. William Forster and/or Charles Brown was also photographed by Thomas J. Nevin when Forster/Brown surrendered himself at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street.

HOBART TOWN, – On the 6th instant, by William Tarleton, Esquire, J. P., for the arrest of John Taylor, William Forster, Charles Brown, and William Harrison, charged with having , on the 26th ultimo, at Hobart Town, neglected to join the whaling vessel Marie Laurie, Description not furnished.

The National library of Australia holds this print, a copy of the same image held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art, with the same information transcribed verso.

Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)

Professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced large numbers of stereographs and cartes-de-visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland.

In his own words …

“I hope that you have not got it in your mind that I am implicated with the ghost“.The Mercury, 4 December 1880

“Defendant said that he was the father of a large number of children, and did not know which one was referred to. (Laughter.)”The Mercury, 11 August 1886

“Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision.”The Mercury, 19 July 1888.

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Disclaimer

We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A.H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

Old Chinese saying: "When you drink the water, remember who dug the well".

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